The Viking Explorer Who Beat Columbus to America - History in the Headlines The Viking Explorer Who Beat Columbus to America October 8, 2013 By Christopher Klein Share Did a Viking explorer travel from Greenland to modern day Canada in the 11th century, beating Christopher Columbus by nearly 400 years? Share this: The Viking Explorer Who Beat Columbus to America Author The Viking Explorer Who Beat Columbus to America URL Google As Leif Erikssson Day approaches, the United States commemorates the explorer credited with the first European expedition to North America. Nearly 500 years before the birth of Christopher Columbus, a band of European sailors left their homeland behind in search of a new world. Their high-prowed Viking ship sliced through the cobalt waters of the Atlantic Ocean as winds billowed the boat’s enormous single sail. After traversing unfamiliar waters, the Norsemen aboard the wooden ship spied a new land, dropped anchor and went ashore. Half a millennium before Columbus “discovered” America, those Viking feet may have been the first European ones to ever have touched North American soil.

Exploration was a family business for the expedition’s leader, Leif Eriksson (variations of his last name include Erickson, Ericson, Erikson, Ericsson and Eiriksson). His father, Erik the Red, founded the first European settlement of Greenland after being expelled from Iceland around A.D. 985 for killing a neighbor. (Erik the Red’s father, himself, had been banished from Norway for committing manslaughter.) Eriksson, who is believed to have been born in Iceland around A.D. 970, spent his formative years in desolate Greenland. Around A.D. 1000, Eriksson sailed east to his ancestral homeland of Norway. There, King Olaf I Tryggvason converted him to Christianity and charged him with proselytizing the religion to the pagan settlers of Greenland. Eriksson converted his mother, who built Greenland’s first Christian church, but not his outlaw father. Icelandic legends called sagas recounted Eriksson’s exploits in the New World around A.D. 1000. These Norse stories were spread by word of mouth before becoming recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Two sagas give differing accounts as to how Eriksson arrived in North America. According to the “Saga of Erik the Red,” Eriksson crossed the Atlantic by accident after sailing off course on his return voyage from Norway after his conversion to Christianity. The “Saga of the Greenlanders,” however, recounts that Eriksson’s voyage to North America was no fluke. Instead, the Viking explorer had heard of a strange land to the west from Icelandic trader Bjarni Herjolfsson, who more than a decade earlier had overshot Greenland and sailed by the shores of North America without setting foot upon it. Eriksson bought the trader’s ship, raised a crew of 35 men and retraced the route in reverse. After crossing the Atlantic, the Vikings encountered a rocky, barren land in present-day Canada. Eriksson bestowed upon the land a name as boring as the surroundings—Helluland, Norwegian for “Stone Slab Land.” Researchers believe this location could possibly have been Baffin Island. The Norsemen then voyaged south to a timber-rich location they called Markland (Forestland), most likely in present-day Labrador, before finally setting up a base camp likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland.

The Vikings spent an entire winter there and benefitted from the milder weather compared to their homeland. They explored the surrounding region abounding with lush meadows, rivers teeming with salmon, and wild grapes so suitable for wine that Eriksson called the region Vinland (Wineland). After spending the winter in Vinland, Eriksson and his crew sailed home to windswept Greenland with badly needed timber and plentiful portions of grapes. Eriksson, who would succeed Erik the Red as chief of the Greenland settlement after his father’s death, never returned to North America, but other Vikings continued to sail west to Vinland for at least the ensuing decade. In spite of North America’s more bountiful resources, the Viking settlers remained in desolate Greenland. This was perhaps due to the violent encounters—including the slaying of Eriksson’s brother Thorwald–they had with the indigenous population of North America. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that supports the sagas’ stories of the Norse expeditions to America. In 1960, Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad scoured the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland for signs of a possible settlement, and he found it on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland at L’Anse aux Meadows.

An international team of archaeologists that included Ingstad’s wife, Anne, excavated artifacts of Viking origin dating from around A.D. 1000, and the remains of the Norse village are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. While Columbus is honored with a federal holiday, the man considered to be the leader of the first European expedition to North America has not been totally forgotten on the calendar. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation that declared October 9 to be Leif Eriksson Day in honor of the Viking explorer, his crew and the country’s Nordic-American heritage. The proximity of the days honoring Eriksson and Columbus is coincidence. October 9 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the 1825 arrival in New York of the ship Restaruation, which carried the first organized band of Norwegian immigrants to the United States. Tags Leif Erikson - Discoverer of America | … | Flickr Leif Erikson - Discoverer of America The first European to arrive in America It is commonly believed that Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive in the New World in 1492. Indeed, Columbus marks the starting point of the mass migration of Europeans to America.

However, he was not the first European to set foot in the New World. That happened during the Viking age, 500 years earlier, when Leif Ericson explored new lands west of Greenland in the year 1000 AD. Leif Ericson, first European to arrive in America Leif "the lucky" Ericson (*) was the second son of Eric "the Red" Thorvaldson, a Norwegian exiled in Iceland who was the first European to colonize Greenland. Leif was born in Iceland, but moved to Greenland with his family after his father created a settlement there. From Greenland, Leif sailed to the west looking for new land and reached the eastern coast of Canada. Some families followed Leif's route and settled in America temporarily. However, Greenland was at the time a very remote, isolated, scarcely populated colony of Icelanders. Interest on further exploration to the west was eventually lost and Leif's discovery of a far away land remained unknown in most of Europe. The colonization of Greenland and the exploration of America are described in the "Saga of Eric the Red" and the "Saga of the Greenlanders", both written around the year 1200.

Leif Ericson was officially recognized to be the first European to set foot in America when, almost 1000 years after his death, the Icelandic Sagas were re-discovered and a Norse settlement was found in L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada. In 1964, United States president Lyndon B. Johnson declared the 9th of October to be "Leif Ericson Day" in commemoration of the first arrival of a European to North America. In the year 2000, celebrations were organized in North America, Greenland and Europe to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Ericson's exploration of the New World. Leif's life in Iceland and settlement in Greenland Little is known of Leif Ericson's early years. He was the second of the three sons of Eric "the Red", a violent man who had been exiled from Norway to Iceland. Leif was probably born in Eiríksstadir, Iceland, between 960-980 AD. He was raised and educated by Tyrkir, a German that his father Eric had captured during a Viking trip.

When Leif was a young boy, his father Eric was banished three years from Iceland for killing a man during a dispute. Unable to return to Norway and now banished from Iceland, Erik took his family and sailed westward following reports of a new land off the coast of Iceland. The reports were true and Eric the Red reached a cold, rough land of glaciers and icebergs. He purposely called it "Greenland", hoping that this motivating name would attract other colonists. Eric became the first European to settle permanently in Greenland. Leif and his family lived entirely isolated in Greenland for three years. After the end of his three years banishment, Eric the Red returned to Iceland looking for people to settle in his "Green Land". In the summer of 985, Eric set out with 25 ships loaded with Icelandic colonists, but the weather was treacherous and only 14 ships and about 350 settlers managed to make the crossing. This was the beginning of the first European settlement of Greenland, which would last for over 400 years.

Leif Ericson had acquired great experience as a seaman and explorer during all this time, and at the age of 20 he set off with a crew of fourteen men to Norway, where his family was originally from. According to the Saga of Eric the Red, his ship first stopped in the Hebrides Isles, Scotland, where he was a guest of the lord of the island and married his daughter, Thorgunna. In Norway, Leif Ericson was invited to stay for the winter as a guest of King Olaf Tryggvasson. King Olaf, a converted Christian himself, convinced Leif to become a Christian, and he further commissioned him to bring a priest back to Greenland to spread Christianity there. Leif Ericson's arrival to North America The discovery of new lands on the eastern coast of North America is recorded in the Saga of Eric the Red and in the Saga of the Greenlanders, written in Iceland around the year 1200. The Sagas relate how Bjarni Herjolfsson was the first to report new land west of Greenland, and how Leif Ericson explored them and stayed there for the winter.

The Saga of the Greenlanders tells that on his return to Greenland, Leif Ericson met a sailor called Bjarni Herjolfsson. Herjolfsson told Leif how his ship got lost in the ocean after been driven far off course by a storm, and affirmed sighting a green, forested land which was not Greenland because it had no glaciers or fjords. Herjolfsson is considered to be the first European to have spotted North America, possibly the coast of Nova Scotia. Ericson got very interested in Bjarni's story and he decided set off on an expedition with a crew of 35 men in the year 1000 AD. Leif soon found a new land that he called Helluland, the flat and stony land, thought to have been Baffin Island or Labrador. From there, Leif's expedition continued sailing south along the coast and stopped in a second land he called Markland, the wood land, believed to have been Newfoundland. The expedition sailed further to the south, possibly as far as Cape Cod, and stopped in a land that the Sagas describe as rich, fertile, and forested, where grapes grow... Leif called it Vinland, the wine land.

He and his men spent the winter in Vinland, filled his ship with the riches of the new land, and returned to Greenland in the spring. The first European settlement in North America On his arrival to Greenland, Leif became known as "Leif the Lucky" because he had found great wealth and no troubles during his expedition to Vinland. Eric the Red died one year after his son's return from Vinland, so Leif took over his father's farm of Brattahlid and never travelled again. Leif's brother, Thorvald Ericson, organized a second expedition to Vinland two years after Leif's journey. While exploring the new land, Thorvald was killed in a violent clash with a group of native North Americans. Thorvald Ericson became the first European to die and to be buried in America. Leif's reports of fertile Vinland reached as far as Iceland, and a colonist expedition composed by sixty men and five women was organized by Thorfinn Karlsefni. The group led by Thorfinn settled in Vinland for about three years. It is thought that they were probably driven away by violent encounters with the Skraelings, a Norse word for the native North Americans.

During their time in Vinland, Thorfinn and his wife Gudrid had a son, Snorri, who was first European child to be born in America. Eventually, the Norse colony in Vinland was abandoned and Thorfinn, Gudrid and Snorri returned to Iceland. It is believed that the Greenlanders returned to Vinland on many occasions before the Greenland colony disappeared in the 14th-15th century. Very little is known about Leif Ericson's later life. The Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders tell that after his journey to Vinland, Leif became the most prominent person in Greenland. He was well respected and lived and died at Brattahlid. The Viking World Heritage Site in L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada Almost one thousand years after the Norse explored Vinland, scholars and historians re-discovered the Sagas and learn about the expeditions of Leif Ericson and other Norse to America. Archaeologists started looking for proof of Norse presence on the Eastern coast of North America and in 1960 Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad unveiled the remains of a European settlement in L' Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada.

Helge and a group of Scandinavian and American archaeologists discovered a Norse settlement with eight buildings and important archaeological remains. The excavations of the settlement have helped us to known that L'Anse aux Meadows was used as a base between Greenland and Vinland, which according to the descriptions in the Sagas would be situated south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1976 the Norse settlement at L' Anse aux Meadows was declared an Historic Site in Canada and in 1978 it was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, the United Nations. Since then, thousands of tourists and historians have visited the Viking World Heritage Site, which shows the reconstructions of three Norse buildings and various exhibits highlighting the lifestyle in the earliest European settlement in the New World. Spelling note: (*) There are several different spellings for the name of Leif Ericson - Leiv, Erikson, Eriksson or Ericsson. In Icelandic, his name is written as Leifur Eiríksson. His father's name, Eric Thorvaldson, is also spelled as Erik, Eirík Thorvaldsson and Eiríkur Þorvaldsson in Icelandic.

Done Erik the Red - the discovery of Greenland Norse History2.jpg Erik the Red Erik the Red gave Greenland its name over 1,000 years ago and ushered in the country’s Viking era. Start reading "It is said that he was a particularly hot-headed fellow." Eirikr rauði Þorvaldsson (approx. 950-1003 AD) was called Erik the Red because of his red beard and hair and perhaps also because of his fiery temper. It is said that he was a particularly hot-headed fellow who, after being exiled from first Norway and later Iceland, finally settled in Greenland. History of Greenland 11.jpg Mads Pihl, Visit Greenland, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 History of Greenland 03.jpg David Trood, All Rights Reserved Erik the Red's saga According to the sagas, his father, Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson, was exiled from Norway in 960 AD as a result of 'a number of killings', and Erik's entire family thus settled on Iceland. Here Erik the Red married Tjodhilde, but history now repeated itself and his father's fate also befell Erik.

In 982 he was sentenced to exile from Iceland for three years for murder. "Here Erik the Red married Tjodhilde." Norse History1.jpg "Erik the Red clearly had great powers of persuasion because in 985 he set sail once more from the volcanic island leading a fleet of 25 ships on course for Greenland." Erik the Red's discovery of Greenland It is for this reason that in the same year he sailed west and discovered a country with an inviting fjord landscape and fertile green valleys. He was extremely impressed with the new country's resources and he returned to Iceland to spread the word of "The green land". Erik the Red clearly had great powers of persuasion because in 985 he set sail once more from the volcanic island leading a fleet of 25 ships on course for Greenland. Onboard were around 500 men and women, domestic animals and all the other elements required to create a new existence in a new country. Of the 25 ships only 14 made it to their destination.

Erik the Red established the chieftain's seat of power at Brattahlið - now Qassiarsuk - in Southern Greenland, whilst others continued further north to the fjord near Nuuk . The two societies were known as the east and west settlements. Animals.jpg First Christian church in North America In around the year 1000 Erik the Red's son, Leif Eriksson, returned to Greenland following a long period in Norway, and Leif - whose byname was 'the Fortunate' - brought with him the first Christian missionaries. Shortly afterwards the first Christian church on the North American continent, Tjodhilde's Church , was built in Brattahlið. Today a reconstruction of the small church can be seen in Qassiarsuk. "Today a reconstruction of the small church can be seen in Qassiarsuk. " Norse History3.jpg Norse History2.jpg "The reason for its disappearance remains a great mystery." By the year 1000 the Viking societies numbered some 3,000 inhabitants on 300-400 farms. The Viking society survived for 500 years.

The reason for its disappearance remains a great mystery, but a colder climate, conflicts with the Inuit people, European pirates, overgrazing and bouts of plague have all been put forward as possible causes of its demise. Erik the Red | Article about Erik the Red by The Free Dictionary Erik the Red | Article about Erik the Red by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Wikipedia . Related to Erik the Red: Leif Ericson Eric the Red, fl. 10th cent., Norse chieftain, discoverer and colonizer of Greenland. He left (c.950) Norway with his exiled father and settled in Iceland. A feud resulting in manslaughter led to his banishment (c.981) from Iceland for three years. He sailed c.982 to seek land reputed to lie W of Iceland. The discovery of Greenland followed, and Eric and his Viking followers spent three years exploring the south and west coasts. On his return to Iceland he promoted a colonizing venture and is said to have given Greenland its attractive name to encourage settlers.

He led (c.986) to the new land a group of 25 ships, of which 14 arrived, carrying about 500 people. Eric established a farmstead, Brattahlid, near present Julianehaab and was a leader of a southern settlement at Osterbygd. He resisted in vain the introduction (c.1000) of Christianity by his son Leif Ericsson Leif Ericsson , Old Norse Leifr Eiriksson, fl. A.D. 999–1000, Norse discoverer of America, b. probably in Iceland; son of Eric the Red. He spent his youth in Greenland and in 999 visited Norway, where he was converted to Christianity and commissioned by King Olaf I ..... Click the link for more information. . Although the colony grew to approximately 1,000 settlers, it gradually died out; other Norse settlements in Greenland, however, survived. Eric the Red Erik the Red - Ages of Exploration Erik the Red Erik the Red was the first European to land on and settle in Greenland.

Name: Erik Thorvaldsson Also Known As: Erik the Red, Eiríkr Þorvaldsson, Eiríkr hinn rauði, Eirik the Red Birth/Death: 950 CE - 1004 CE Nationality: Norseman Objective: To discover islands west of Iceland Sponsoring Nation: None Cause of Death: Illness Erik the Red Erik the Red (Eiríkur rauði). Woodcut frontispiece from the 1688 Icelandic publication of Arngrímur Jónsson's Gronlandia (Greenland). Fiske Icelandic Collection. Gallery Early Life It was his flowing red hair that turned Erik Thorvaldson into Erik the Red. Born in 950 BCE, Erik was the son of Thorvald Asvaldson (Osvaldson) and grandson of Osvald. It was Osvald who started a not-so-honorable family tradition when he was accused of murder. His son (and Erik’s father), Thorvald, was exiled from Norway in the aftermath of a killing when Erik was about ten years old; they went to a place called Hornstrands in northern Iceland.

At the time, Iceland was already well settled. When Thorvald died, Erik married a woman named Thjodhild and moved from northern Iceland to an area called Hawkdale. There he cleared land and built a home he dubbed Eriksstead. Life was good until Erik’s slaves caused an accidental landslide that crushed a neighbor’s house, and the neighbor’s relative killed the hapless slaves. In revenge—and following family tradition—Erik killed the man, known as Eyolf the Filthy and another man, Raven the Fighter. Eyolf’s relatives prosecuted Erik for the killing and he was banished from Hawkdale. In frustration, Erik seized control of two small islands at the mouth of the fjord and on one he built a second farm, also calling it Eriksstead. While on his isolated island property, Erik agreed to loan a neighbor named Thorgest some decorative timbers needed for construction of a house. When he sought the return of his valuable timbers, Thorgest refused to give them back. Erik engaged in a fight with his new neighbors, ultimately resulting in the deaths of some of Thorgest’s family members, most likely two of his sons.

A court session was called to judge the guilt or innocence of the parties involved. Erik and Thorgest each had his supporters, and there was a huge crowd attending the judgment. In the event he was found guilty, Erik had prepared a ship for a quick get-away. Sure enough, the judgment came back against him, but rather than make use of his get-away ship, his friends successfully hid him from his pursuers. Voyages In 982 BCE, Erik decided to start fresh somewhere else and sailed away for the lands west of Iceland. These lands had first been sighted by sailor Gunnbjorn Ulfsson who had been blown off course during a voyage. This wasn’t as dangerous as it might have been because Viking ships of the time were marvels of technology and the Norsemen, like Erik, were brave, hardy folk, strong enough to cross the North Atlantic in open boats. There were two different types of ship, the longship, which was used primarily for warfare, and the knorr, a ship used for trade and commerce. On vessels like these, the Vikings were able to navigate the waters of the North Atlantic 500 years before the first voyage of Christopher Columbus.

During the winter of 982 CE – 983 CE, Erik the Red spent his time on an island located off the coast of Greenland which he named Eiriksey. This name translates to “Erik’s Island.” In the spring of 983 CE, he headed to a neighboring fjord, or inlet, which he also named after himself, dubbing it Eiriksfjord. During the summer, Erik and his men explored uninhabited lands to the west and gave names to the different tracts they visited, all starting with “Erik.” He spent the following winter of 983 CE – 984 CE on the southern tip of Greenland. That spring he sailed back up the east coast, only to return to Eiriksey the following winter. Shortly thereafter, Erik’s exile ended and he sailed back around Cape Farewell to return to Iceland in the summer of 985 CE. In total, Erik the Red had sailed over six thousand miles in only four sailing seasons, making it one of the greatest maritime feats achieved during the medieval period. The next spring, 986 BCE, Erik and his neighbor Thorgest once again became embroiled in a bitter fight.

Losing again to Thorgest, Erik managed to declare a truce with his former neighbor. That summer Erik sailed from Iceland to establish a colony in the new land he had found. It was Erik who called the new land Greenland, hoping to lure more people with the attractive name. He made claims of vast natural resources and plentiful game. Seals, whales, walrus, bears and abundant fish were all part of the riches awaiting the potential colonists. Writers of the time claimed that twenty-five ships left Iceland that summer, all bound for Greenland. Navigating using a marked stone to measure the position of the sun from the horizon, they were able to follow a latitude line straight toward the east coast of southern Greenland. Unfortunately, only fourteen of those ships reached their destination; some were driven back to Iceland by weather and some were wrecked. The ships transported over four hundred people along with household goods and domesticated animals. On this second voyage, Erik the Red made a home for himself and his family at Brattahlid, located in Eiriksfjord. The territory known as the Western Settlement was located approximately one-hundred and eighty miles farther north up the coast.

A string of smaller settlements were spread out between the Eastern and Western Settlements. Legacy Erik the Red is honored for his discovery and settlement of Greenland. Erik’s son, the famed explorer Leifr Eiriksson, would go on to become the first European to arrive in North America. Erik the Red (Eiríkur rauði). Woodcut frontispiece from the 1688 Icelandic publication of Arngrímur Jónsson’s Gronlandia (Greenland). Fiske Icelandic Collection. Erik the red, 17th century image from Scanné de Coureurs des mers, Poivre d’Arvor. Ruins of Brattahlíð/Brattahlid, Erik the Red’s yard in Greenland. (Credit: PederM at da.wikipedia) A page from the Sage of Erik the Red, XIII Century. Leif Eriksson - the first European in North America Norse History4.jpg Leif Eriksson Leif Eriksson made ​​amazing discoveries and was the first European to reach North America. Nearly 500 years before Columbus.

Start reading In Brattahlid, which today is known by the Greenlandic name of Qassiarsuk , a bronze statue of Leif Eriksson has been erected as a memorial to his fantastic discoveries in the year 1000 AD. The statue has been erected at the site in Southern Greenland from where the legendary son of Erik the Red set course towards the uncharted west from his childhood home. "The statue of Leif Eriksson has been erected at the site in Southern Greenland." History of Greenland 16.jpg Norse History2.jpg "The voyage made Leif Eriksson - whose byname was 'the Fortunate' - the first ever European to set foot on the North American continent." First Europeans in North America The voyage made Leif Eriksson - whose byname was 'the Fortunate' - the first ever European to set foot on the North American continent. The areas that Leif Eriksson discovered and explored where christened by him Helluland, Markland and finally Vinland. The areas are thought to be Baffin Island, Labrador and Newfoundland respectively.

Norse History3.jpg Viking settlers in Canada It is indeed in north-western Newfoundland in Canada, more specifically at L'Anse-aux-Meadows, that the oldest known European settlement in the New World has been discovered. More than 2400 Viking objects have been excavated from the area conclusive proof that the Viking settlers discovered North America long before Columbus. "...conclusive proof that the Viking settlers discovered North America long before Columbus." Animals.jpg Norse History1.jpg The museum in Narsaq houses an exciting permanent exhibition of the early Viking settlers and their way of life. The statue of Leif Eriksson The statue of Leif the Fortunate was erected in the year 2000 in conjunction with the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the heroic voyage. It is a copy of similar statues originally erected in Seattle on the American west coast and subsequently in Trondheim in the north of Norway. The museum in Narsaq houses an exciting permanent exhibition of the early Viking settlers and their way of life. Eric the Red Eric the Red Eric the Red (lived about 950-1001), Norwegian explorer, the first European to explore Greenland and to found a colony there.

His second son, Leif Eriksson, is believed to have been one of the first Europeans to reach North America. Eric, whose patronymic was Thorvaldson, was called Eric the Red because of his red hair. When his father was exiled for manslaughter, Eric left Norway with him, and the family settled in Iceland. In 980-81, faced with manslaughter charges himself, Eric decided to explore land sighted by his friend Gunnbjörn Úlfsson to the west of Iceland. The course Eric followed took him to the island he named Greenland. Returning to Iceland, he persuaded several shiploads of relatives and friends to join him in colonizing the new land in about 985. Because the eastern coast was sheathed in ice, he rounded Cape Farewell in the south and founded a settlement called Brattahlid. Others of his party established another settlement near present-day Nuuk (Godthåb). Both communities were on the western coast. An injury prevented Eric from accompanying his son Leif on the voyage that eventually took him to Vinland (North America) in about 1001. He died the winter after Leif returned home.

Another son, Thorvald, also visited Vinland. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE "Eric the Red," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000 © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Leif Ericson - New World Encyclopedia Leif Ericson Leiv Eiriksson discovers North America by Christian Krohg (1893) Leif Ericson (Old Norse: Leifr Eiríksson) (c. 970 – c. 1020 C.E. ) was a Norse explorer thought to be the first European to have landed in North America, presumably in Newfoundland, Canada . Born around 970 C.E. in Iceland , Ericson was the son of Erik the Red, who started the first European settlement of Greenland in 985 C.E. Leif sailed to Greenland with his father and lived there until around 1000 C.E. , when he returned to his homeland of Norway . There, Ericson reportedly became a Christian, and King Olaf I of Norway asked him to return to Greenland and bring the Vikings there to Christianity.

According to one legend, when Ericson was sailing back to Greenland, he was blown off course and instead ended up in North America. In a second version, Leif sailed intentionally west after hearing of richly forested lands there from an earlier voyager, Bjarni Herjólfsson, and was thus not truly the first European to discover the area. Ericson established a settlement in a place he called Vinland, which was probably the part of Canada now referred to as Newfoundland. The community lasted less than two years due to hostility between the settlers and native peoples, as well as internal struggles. Contents 7 Credits While Europe remained almost totally in the dark about Erickson's discovery, Norse sagas recorded his exploits. In the 1960s, archaeological findings confirmed the existence of a Norse settlement in Newfoundland dating back to Ericson's time. Thus, it is now considered very probable that Leif Ericson reached the New World almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus . Early life Ericson's father, Erik the red, was a well-known Norwegian explorer and outlaw who founded two Norse colonies in Greenland , known as the Western Settlement and the Eastern Settlement. Leif’s mother was named Thjodhild.

He reportedly had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and one sister, Freydís. Leif married a woman named Thorgunna, and they had one son, Thorgills Leifsson. During a stay in Norway , Leif reportedly converted to Christianity, like many Norse of that time. He also entered the service King Olaf Tryggvason, who may have enlisted him to bring Christianity to the settlers in his father's colonies in Greenland. According to one legend, it was while Leif was returning to Greenland that he was blown off course and discovered the New World. Journey to the New World Icelandic sagas The main sources of information about the Viking voyages to Vinland are two Icelandic legends, the Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders. These stories were written down approximately 250 years after the settlement of Greenland and are open to considerable breadth of interpretation. The Saga of the Greenlanders indicates that the initial discovery of what later became known as Vinland predated Leif Ericson's voyage by 14 years. In this version a merchant by the name of Bjarni Herjólfsson set sail from Iceland to Greenland to visit his father there.

His ship was blown off course by a storm and thus he accidentally discovered the east coast of North America in 985 or 986. It was late in the summer, and he did not want to stay over to winter in this new land, which he noted was covered with forests, so he did not land and managed to reach Greenland before winter fell. Vikings settle in Vinland Herjólfsson later sold his ships to Ericson, who sailed west intentionally and was not blown off course trying to reach Greenland after meeting King Olaf, as in the Saga of Eric the Red. With wood being in very short supply in Greenland , the settlers there were eager to explore the riches of this new land. Ericson explored this coast and eventually established a short-lived colony in what he called Vinland. The Viking settlers found the area pleasant. There were plenty of large salmon in a river there, and the climate was mild, with little frost in the winter and green grass year-round. The first area discovered by Leif, according to one story, was Helluland ("flatstone land"), possibly Baffin Island . Markland ("wood land")—which is now Labrador—was apparently discovered next.

There is some evidence that the treeline in northern Labrador has been diminished or eroded since circa 1000. Lastly emerged Vinland (commonly translated as "wine land," but also interpreted as "pasture land" by others). Vinland may now be what is called L'Anse aux Meadows, where archaeological discoveries indicate a probable Norse settlement from around Ericson's time. Recreation of the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. The expedition included both families and livestock and its aim was to begin new settlements. Straumfjörðr was the name of Vinland's northern settlement and Hóp was the name for the southern settlement. When Ericson and the Vikings settled, they did not have good relationships with the aboriginal people. They raided nearby villages and killed whoever failed to escape into the woods. Thorvald Eiríksson, Leif's brother, was killed during his second summer there. Despite hostilities, furs, cloth, and other goods were traded between the Vikings and some of the native peoples. When the fighting finally stopped, the settlers built houses out of sod with clay floors, since the sod provided good insulation and stopped rainwater going into the home.

They caught fish, hunted game animals, picked berries, and had brought meat, cattle, and poultry from Iceland . According to the stories, conflict with natives was the major factor that forced the settlement to be abandoned. These skrælingar may have been Beothuks or Dorset people. However, another cause of Vinland's demise may have been disagreements among the Viking men about the few women that followed on the trip, which is also indicated in the written sources. On the return voyage, Ericson rescued an Icelandic castaway named Þórir and his crew—an incident that earned him the nickname "Leif the Lucky." After returning to Greenland, he reportedly brought his mother to the Christian faith, and she in turn established the first church in Greenland. Ericson died about 1020. In 1008 on a separate journey, Thorfinn Karlsefni reportedly brought 60 people (including five women) to Vinland. He continued the practice of bringing cattle and sheep from Europe and traded furs, skins, and other commodities with the aboriginal people. The Vikings probably did not perceive the exploration and settlement of Greenland and Vinland as any different from that of founding Greenland and Iceland.

It was merely an extension of their homeland, and notions of a different world only surfaced upon meeting the natives, who were noticeably different from the Irish monks, perhaps equally strange, which the Vikings had encountered in Iceland. Although there are no records of further settlements, new voyages for woodcutting seem to have been discussed even as late as the 1300s. Vinland's story Map of Viking voyages. Vinland was first recorded in writing by Adam of Bremen, a geographer and historian, in his book Descriptio insularum Aquilonis, c. 1075, after he visited the Danish king Svend Estridson, who had knowledge of the northern lands and their legends. The Viking sagas were recorded later, but are not considered trustworthy, especially in the light of the strong European emphasis on the story of Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas in 1492. Until the nineteenth century, the idea of a Viking settlement in North America was considered by historians to be the product of mere folk tales. The first scholarly theory for the idea was put forth in 1837 by Danish literary historian and antiquarian Carl Christian Rafn in his book Antiquitates Americanæ.

Rafn had made an exhaustive examination of the sagas, as well as potential settlement sites on the North American coast, and concluded that Vinland was a real place in North America that had been settled by the Norse. In 1960, archaeological evidence of Norse settlement in North America was found at L'Anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland. Although this proved conclusively the Vikings' pre-Columbian discovery of North America, whether this exact site is the Vinland of the Norse accounts is still a subject of debate. Speculation Statue near the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. A few have speculated that Norsemen may have penetrated as far as Minnesota , either coming down from Hudson Bay or going west through the Great Lakes . Some suggest that the Mandan Indians showed evidence of being culturally influenced by pre-Columbian explorers from Europe. For example, a runestone with carvings of a Scandinavian nature was discovered near Kensington, Minnesota, dating to approximately 1030 C.E. A statue of Leif was erected near the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota on October 9, 1949. In the nineteenth century, the theory that Ericson and his men visited New England gained popularity.

The statue of Ericson on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston , and the Norumbega Tower in Weston Massachusetts were both created as monuments to this supposed Viking presence. However, there is only one piece of hard evidence that suggests Vikings may have visited the area now called the United States: an eleventh-century Norse coin, the Maine Penny, found in Brooklin, Maine along with thousands of other artifacts during an excavation of a former Native American trading center. However, this coin could have come from Newfoundland via trade with native peoples of that area, or may have even been brought to North America centuries later by the English or Portuguese . Leif Erikson Day The Congress of the United States of America, by joint resolution (Public Law 88-566) approved on September 2, 1964, authorized, and requested the President to proclaim October 9 of each year as "Leif Erikson Day." Since then, Presidents have accordingly proceeded to call upon "all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs to honor our rich Nordic-American heritage." References Burgan, Michael. Leif Eriksson (Groundbreakers, Explorers). Heinemann, 2002.

ISBN 978-1588105967 Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. Before Columbus: The Leif Eriksson Expedition. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2003. Sanderson, Jeanette. Explorers. Teaching Resources/Scholastic, 2002. ISBN 0439251818 Steele, William O. The Life of Leif Ericson. Grosset & Dunlap, 1954. ASIN B000JFAN8U Weir, Ruth Cromer. Leif Ericson, explorer. Abingdon Press, 1951. ASIN B0007DW32U External links

Question: Which son of Eric the Red is considered to be the first European to land in North America?
Answer: Leif Erikson